Q is for Duck

We're talking about vocabulary instruction today and, boy, do I have a fun book to share!  It's an oldy but a goody! 

Q is for Duck!

This simple alphabet book has a format that is adaptable to any grade or subject area.  Each page has a "riddle" to it to guess why that letter stands for that particular object.  For instance, G is for horse.  Why?  Because a horse gallops!

 

Can you guess why H is for owl?  Because an owl hoots!

And it's great for higher or lower students along with showing their understanding of word relationships.  (Could be good for instruction on word analogies, too!)

Here are some the teachers in my workshop course came up with for content they teach:

L is for rock, because rock is the lithosphere.

M is for water, because water moves.

D is for the Civil Rights Movement, because African Americans faced discrimination.

V is for algebraic expression, because the variable is what you're solving for.

S is for terrace farming because it looks like steps.

 

Summer Book Purchases

A few weeks ago I was at the Eric Carle Picture Book Museum in Amherst Massachusetts (AKA the BEST gift shop/bookstore ever).  I can never get out of there without buying at least a few new books.

This year I walked out with signed copies of two books I can't WAIT to use for our regions unit, both by Diane Siebert.

The first is Sierra.

The second is Heartland.  Both have beautiful illustrations and lovely, poetic text with great details!  They're just begging to be a mentor text!

 

I have Mojave already, so I'm excited to add more to my collection.

I added Mississippi to my wishlist!

Another great one for your consideration is Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art, perfect for a regions study!

Guest Blogger Bette: OWP Take-Aways

I have hit the guest blogger jackpot! Chelsea was talking up my blog and another awesome Ohio Writing Project colleague asked to share her summer take-aways....uh, heck yeah! So without further ado, I will let Bette introduce herself! Thanks again, Bette (and Chelsea!)

Hi, my name is Bette Williams. I am a kindergarten teacher at Bogan Elementary. I have taught kindergarten for 15 years. I really enjoy writing activities in my classroom and try to combine the activity with a craft for a culminating activity as often as possible. I am currently in the Ohio Writer's Project 4 week summer session where I have met some amazing teachers and have been getting great ideas to  include in my writer's workshop this school year. Here are my thoughts for a kindergarten character study.

What you need: 

-Several different versions of the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears such as: Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks by Nancy Loewen.

 

 

-A character web of Goldilocks using the traditional story.

-Several colors of construction paper, tissue paper, googly eyes , markers and glue.

1. Read the traditional story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Fill out the character web together as a class, brainstorming ideas as students copy responses onto individual papers (you can do this as a class, depending upon the time of year and student ability).

2. Read Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks by Nancy Loewen.This story is a modern version of Goldilocks. She takes a dare from Red Riding Hood to visit the bears home while they are away. The kids will love how Goldilocks uses  her cell phone to take pictures as proof of her adventure. Discuss the difference in this view point. How is Goldilocks the same/different? 

3. Again brainstorm ideas for a character web of Goldilocks. How is this character web different? How is it the same?

4. Create a Goldilocks using the supplies listed above. Goldilocks should match the character web created. Is she a traditional Goldilocks or does she look more modern? Let the kids really experiment with this project. I have the basic shapes available, arms, legs, head and a trapezoid for the body. Students can change the body shape , and skin color, and add googly eyes.

Other books your students may enjoy:

 

Beware the Bears by Alan MacDonald

The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

Yours Truly, Goldilocks by Alma Flor Ada (this text works for letter writing and is a great book to pair with upper class buddies. For example my class works with a third grade classroom.)

Common Core: I can statements

K.RL.1    I can ask and answer questions about what was read.

K.RL.2    I can retell a story.

K.RL.3    I can name the characters , setting , and events in a story.

K.RL.9    I can compare characters and events from different stories.

K.RI.9     I can compare two stories

Historical Perspectives, pt 2

Last week I shared about how SATP and I taught last week on text sets.  Well that's not the only excitement from our online class' face to face meeting :)

We also enjoyed a Skype session with author Lynne Dorfman.  Lynne is one part of the Dorfman/Cappelli mentor text guru duo.  Sweet Lynne spoke with us specifically about her book Nonfiction Mentor Texts. 

She shared lots of ways to help students brainstorm writing topics as well as activities for writing informational pieces. 

One of my favorite activities we tried out was the "Creating a Scene: A Way to Introduce an Information Piece of Writing" lesson (original credit to Fletcher & Portalupi).

Using the book Frogs, Lynne shared how author Ann Heinrichs creates a scene as a lead to her text.  She broke down how the author included many true facts, but it was told in an interesting narrative fashion.  Then it was our turn. 

Lynne gave us a list of facts about hummingbirds from the book Hummingbirds: Tiny But Mighty by Judy Gehman and then had us practice writing a "creating a scene" lead. Bonus: this is a great way to teach students not to plagiarize research materials!

Her handout for the lesson can be accessed here.  Lynne also shared other types of leads (with mentor text titles!) she teaches students here.  I know many of these went on my wishlist!

Poems for Two Voices

My little poets have been so impressive throughout our poetry unit.  So I've been adding some fun challenges as we wrap up our unit and they continue working on a piece to publish.  Up next: Two Voice (or Double Voice)Poetry!

We looked at examples from the master, Paul Fleischman.  Fleischman was the first poet to win a Newbery for his book, Joyful Noise.

 

 

 

Our study mostly focused on the poem "Fireflies."  In order to hear a two-voice poem read aloud we watched this clip read by a high school speech duo (names unknown).

 

 

 

Then students partnered up to create their own two voice poems.  It's always a fun way to hear different viewpoints on a subject.  And even more fun to perform!



Martin's Big Words

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr, Day!

To celebrate this amazing man, ATP and I created a lesson integrating primary sources and the text Martin's Big Words.

We started with reading the book My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.  This sweet book details MLK's childhood and tells about a time white friends in his neighborhood suddenly decided not to play with him.

Then we shared images from The Library of Congress.  We also shared a shortened clip of the "I Have a Dream Speech."  Students had a copy of the text to follow along with and added their own thinking and questions as we watched.

 

After discussion, we read Martin's Big Words.  The students each selected one quote from the book to analyze and reflect on.  [By the way, if you want to hear the text of the book, check out this video. The quality isn't great, but it is the full text and images.]

 

These reflections will become part of a display in our wing with a timeline of important African American figures.  It's a great way to talk not only about this time period, but how we can continue living out the 'big words' of MLK.

I really enjoyed teaching this powerful lesson on a important topic.  What are you doing to keep the dream alive?

Classroom Tour pt 10- The Finale! (and total hodge podge)

My tour is coming to a close today.  I have just two more features to share with you.

 

We're in the midst of our reading workshop unit on nonfiction.  One component of the unit is allowing students access to topically-organized mentor texts.  I ordered these "Basic Stack Baskets" from the Container Store to keep them looking neat but also easy to borrow.  I used lables from Scholastic (they were free a few months ago with a book club order) and attached them with book rings.

 

I also wanted to share my collection of former team t-shirts.  Read more about how I created these here.

 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my classroom and maybe got an idea or two to use in your own space.

Classroom Tour pt 9- Writing Quotes

Once upon a time I got my masters in writing instruction.  My research focused on journaling and growing passion and ownership for writing through choice.  And while I've been happy to see many students do just this, others look at me with a questioning look when I ask, "Why write?"  Some even answer with, "Because you make me."

And no teacher wants to hear that!  We want our students to love what we teach and see the utmost value in practicing a given skill.  So I decided to offer the words of great writers to fill them with reasons to write.

 

I created this board to share many wonderful reasons to journal.  I switch out the quote weekly.  When I first developed the board I searched for quotes online, but since have enjoyed finding them organically.  (I even wrote one down while watching "E True Hollywood Story: Taylor Swift" once!  She got her start through a teacher who shared poetry with a passion!). 

I've even had students share their own reasons and write those with the dry erase marker (sorry for the picture quality--it's showing a former dry erase quote).

It's a great way to encourage students and helps fight off the "because you make me" answers!

How about you readers, why do you write?  Leave me a comment and maybe you'll make the inspiration board! (I'm sure students would love it as much as T. Swift!)

Classroom Tour pt 6- Writing Wall

Since my first year of teaching I have had a board in my room featuring reading genres.  A few years ago I realized that my students had a hard time distinguishing between reading genres and types of writing.  So with the help of some great former writers, I created a board in my room with examples.

It's a great way to not only remind students of the types of writing we've done/ are working on, but it also motivates students to add a little variety into their work during journaling time.  Plus they always like seeing siblings' and neighbors' work.

Don't you love this feature article on bacon?! 

Happy First Day of School!

Blog, how I've missed you!  This has been an action-packed week gearing up for the first day of school.

I have so much to share with you, but for now, I am going to send you to another blog (is that cheating?!).  The lovely Donalyn Miller of Book Whisperer fame (read it if you haven't yet!) keeps a blog of the same name. 

This week she wrote about read-aloud books to establish community.  I love her list, including developing communities of readers & writers, communities who value one another, communities who have fun, and communities who care about the world.

BookSpeak!: Poems about Books by Laura Purdie Salas is TOTALLY on my wish list.  Does it get any better than a book of poems about books?

Wishing you a happy first day of school as well (whenever it is/was).  I hope someone told you how much they appreciate what you do to make a difference in the lives of children.  If not, know that I am affirming you!

ReadWorks

Down to only a few days of summer left!  It's been chock-full of good learning and teaching and now I'm (mostly) excited to meet my newest bunch on Wednesday!

In the midst of all these meetings and final preparation, I have a resource to share today...

Readworks.org is a FREE (you do have to sign up for an account but it's really easy), wonderful resource that is going to be one of my "go to" resources next year.

I am most obsessed with their collection of nonfiction pieces.  It's searchable by grade, topic, reading skill, etc.  In a PD with my department on Friday we worked on developing reading workshop mini-lessons/ assessments around a specific text.  We were able to find a great piece from Readworks on the Civil Rights movement ("A Lesson in Courage") that really helped pull together the lesson.  Check it out and let me know how you use it!

New Directions

{Sister will love that I already worked a Glee reference into a post...even if it was slightly forced!}

I'm still working out a few things of what I think this blog should be.  Part inspiration, part rambling, perhaps?  I have lots of potential posts floating around but yet to take form.  So I'll start with what may be most helpful to you--a new resource for great ideas.  (You can thank me later.)

Today, while responding to students in my online grad class, I was introduced to lots of fantastic online resources.  (Isn't it nice when the students do the work for you!?)  One that I feel very fortunate to have been introduced to is a great collection of student anchor texts.  It's always a challenge to find samples of student work that feel like the right level for what I expect my students to produce, especially if it is my first time teaching a new genre.  I'm excited to have a new place to search for just the right mentors for my young writers.

Check out this little gem from Smekens Education Solutions, Inc.  Kristina Smekens has a great collection of videos, lesson plans, and resources that are all fresh, creative, and FREE!  Enjoy.